The prior art is replete with toilet seat covers having water saturable appendages which depend from the seat cover into the water contained in the toilet bowl. When the toilet is flushed, these water saturated appendages all function similarly in that they pull or draw the seat cover into the water being flushed to flush the seat cover down the toilet with the water and waste matter being flushed. In this way, an individual avoids having to touch the seat cover or otherwise dispose of it after using it. This general type of toilet seat cover is disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 597,264 to Conradi, Jr.; 1,158,142 to Muller; 1,462,662 to Schaefer; 1,236,798 to White; 1,293,955 to Sloan; 1,440,773 to Dykstra; 1,505,067 to Lahmer; 1,519,409 to Lausten; 1,573,619 to Lemmer; 1,673,622 to Engalitcheff; 1,744,300 to Dewaide; and 4,264,992 to Tromp.
Other types of sanitary covers for toilets, bedpans and the like are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,509,868 to Harrison; 3,249,950 to Wilson; 3,546,716 to Laumann; 3,605,127 to Dailey; 4,674,138 to Lowry; and 4,759,086 to Booth-Cox.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,588,921 to Negal discloses a combination toilet seat cover and stool specimen collector which is completely enclosed except for a front opening which allows urine to pass directly into the toilet. This combination seat cover and stool collector is primarily used by physicians desiring to collect stool specimens for examination purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,880 to Barreau; French Pat. No. 442,324 to Bonamy and West German Pat. No. 2,026,235 to Persichetti each disclose a toilet protective device which covers the sitting surface and extends down into the toilet bowl. However, in each instance the portion extending into the toilet bowl does not come into contact with the water and is generally pointed or constructed at a sharp angle. The difficulty with such a device is that as soon as it becomes saturated with urine or other liquid waste material, it will break through the material and fall into the toilet, if the device is constructed of flushable material. Thus, protection from viruses and bacteria within the toilet bowl is lost. Furthermore, there is no cover to protect the user from the contents of the bowl when the toilet is being flushed. Finally, there is no means provided for pulling the device into the toilet or assuring that it is twisted into a configuration which will pass through the toilet outlet.
Recent studies have demonstrated that many potentially harmful viruses and bacteria exist in toilet bowls. In fact, one study conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine demonstrated that bacteria is shot into the air when a toilet is flushed. The Baylor study also demonstrated that once air-borne, these bacteria are capable of settling on surfaces throughout the bathroom, including surfaces routinely touched by human hands. The results of the Baylor study were reported in the October, 1987 issue of Redbook magazine, in an article entitled "Toilet Training For Adults"; pp. 118-200.
In view thereof, it would be desirable if a toilet seat cover were available that would not only insulate a toilet occupant from the toilet seat, but also insulate the occupant and the bathroom interior from any viruses and bacteria present in the toilet bowl. Furthermore, it is important to protect the toilet occupant, as well as the occupant's clothes from contact with the front of the toilet bowl when using the toilet and to be able to close off the waste material deposited into the device so that viruses and bacteria from the occupant's waste material is not sprayed back up into the bathroom when the toilet is flushed. It would further be desirable if such a toilet seat cover could be flushed down the toilet in a reliable manner so that it would not have to be disposed of otherwise.